He spent 14 years in Congress and still has a $4.6 million campaign war chest, but Martin Meehan said he is not interested in running for U.S. Senate should Sen. John Kerry be appointed by the Obama administration as the next Secretary of State.

Instead of returning to Washington D.C., Meehan, 55, of Lowell, said he wants to remain focused in his role as chancellor of the University of Massachusetts of Lowell, a job he has held since in 2007.

“This has come up in the past,” said Meehan, when asked about running for Kerry’s seat. “No … When I came to UMass, I wanted to make a difference. It takes some time. While we’ve had some successes, I’m not thinking of leaving to go back into politics in Washington.”

Discuss

So, if he is not going to run for office, how does Marty Meehan justify the $4.6 million in his campaign war chest? He could give that money to the DCCC to elect Democratic Congress people. He could use that money to help elect Democrats throughout the country.

Just sitting in the bank gaining interest. (Not very much interest, of course, given what rates are.) It’s not possible to transfer that money to a federal campaign account, so I called his campaign a year or so ago and asked if they would consider donating the money to local charities. The woman on the phone took my number and said they would call me back. They never called me back.

Let’s say interest on that account is 3%. Or 1%, or 5%. The money in politics is growing at a rate faster than that, which means that the longer he waits, the *less* his account is worth in campaign donation terms. Having something worth less is better than having nothing to be sure… I just mean to suggest that time is distinctly not on his side, because the interest in the account is smaller than the rate of increasing money in politics.

It’s retirement grease, not the kind Rosty enjoyed (literally using funds as a golden parachute) but to blackmail UMASS into giving him more money to stay put by making it seem he could leave at any time. He retired in 2007 though so he is quickly nearing Bill Weld territory in terms of electoral irrelevance. I’d agree he, like Markey, keeps flirting with voters but never shows up for a first date. Unlike Markey he’s got a wife at home (UMass) and wants him to stay in Lowell.